InFlux Review

InFlux is a puzzle platformer in which the player controls a metal sphere as it rolls around an island, solving puzzles. The player must collect glowing blue points of light to unlock puzzle rooms, and then solve each of the puzzle rooms to progress. A whale is featured.

InFlux contains sixteen puzzle rooms, six areas on the island to explore and traverse, and rocks. Many puzzles require moving an orange sphere into an orange box. The player’s ball can attract and repulse objects, including the orange sphere, and it can charge up a boost which allows the player to change direction in midair.

Some puzzle rooms include switches that have various effects, like switches that twist the entire room ninety degrees to the left or the right. Some puzzle rooms require the player to rotate the rooms back and forth multiple times to bring the orange sphere to the orange box. Most puzzles have multiple routes to a solution, depending on the order in which the player moves through the environment and whether the player drops the orange sphere into various locations, either by attracting or repulsing it or by shifting the room via switches.

The graphics in InFlux are in a realistic style. They depict an island which is made up of wide open green grass fields, redwood forests, caves with blue bioluminescent plants, beaches, rivers, and a volcano, plus huts, ladders, puzzle rooms, and other signs of settlement. The puzzle room graphics depict glass and metal walls and floors. When the player enters a puzzle room the outside of the puzzle room changes to a depiction of skies and other areas rather than the surrounding island. Orange, purple, and blue are commonly featured colors in the puzzle rooms. The sound in InFlux consists of sound effects for attracting and repelling things, a sound the sphere makes when the player boosts, and noises made by the volcano. The music in InFlux is in an ambient electronic IDM style.

In InFlux the player is able to see the orange sphere’s location through walls. The player is not always able to see the details of the room the orange sphere is in. When there are multiple switches that rotate the room in different directions, the player may infer the effects of their actions by observing the movement of the sphere through the wall or by moving to another area of the level. Because the player has no direct control over the orange sphere, it is possible for the player to be forced to implement a puzzle solution other than what they were attempting to implement in cases where the orange sphere rolls away from the course the player was attempting to get it to follow. While exploring the island, the player triggers certain changes, some of which are potentially unexpected.